On Physical and Spiritual Fitness

Few weeks ago, one early morning, my 17 year old daughter requested me to join her in her tae boxing exercise where she follows the moves on the DVD player and television. My reply to her was that “you just go on with your activity; it’ll just be the same I’m still not going to achieve my ideal body weight… just like what happened last year.” Here’s what happened on the summer of 2016, my eldest daughter and I rigorously did the tae boxing exercise to become physically fit. Indeed, there was an improvement in our physique and we lost some weight. But when school time came and for the rest of the months of 2016 we were not able to maintain our exercise schedule until such a time that we stopped doing the exercise. With the said experience I told myself that I’m not going to waste my time in exercising and instead watch my diet in order to lose weight. However from January of this year and as of this writing I still was not able to get my ideal weight of 45 kilos to my 144 centimeter height. I still have to lose 3 more kilos in order for me to achieve the ideal weight for my height. Maybe I do need to join my daughter in her exercise regimen one of these days. Hopefully, I would be able to do it regularly this time.

Exercising coupled with the right kind of food is good for the body. May we be reminded that “our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit… so use your bodies for God’s glory.” As parents, the more we should give importance to the state of our body and health for we have our children to take care of. If we neglect our bodies, our children will suffer too. So, let’s adopt a healthy diet and engage in regular exercise. It’s so easy to say but hard to do. But with perseverance our efforts will surely be rewarded. Aside from the benefits of getting our ideal weight, we will be also become healthy physically, mentally and emotionally.

On another note, let us also remember to do some exercises for our spiritual body. 1 Timothy 4:8 says “Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is valuable in every way, because it promises life for the present and for the future.” How should we train ourselves for spiritual fitness? As for me, we could start by finding time in our busy schedule to read and reflect on the Holy Scripture the Bible. We could also try our best to pray and meditate on the Rosary daily. Visiting the Blessed Sacrament and attending the Holy Eucharist are also some of the things we could do to ensure that our spiritual life is being nourished. By making sure that we are fit spiritually, we would be able to spend our spiritual energy to serve God. As we celebrate Ascension Sunday may we reflect on what Fr. Gil A. Alinsangan said in his book The Gospel of the Cross that is “To celebrate Ascension Sunday is to remind ourselves of our duty to spread the Gospel.” Therefore, as Christians we should not keep our faith to ourselves but rather we should share it to others. (Bing Orbeta-Robles)